


History Has Its Eyes On You

by TheScarletWarrior



Category: Assassin's Creed - All Media Types
Genre: Alternate Universe - Canon Divergence, Brotherhood, Character Study, Drabble
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-11-22
Updated: 2020-11-22
Packaged: 2021-03-10 06:40:58
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,400
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/27669011
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/TheScarletWarrior/pseuds/TheScarletWarrior
Summary: Liam thinks on his choices, and where they have left the world.A look at the relationship between Shay and Liam in my Precursor Apocalypse AU.
Relationships: Shay Cormac & Liam O'Brien
Kudos: 6





	History Has Its Eyes On You

**Author's Note:**

> Inspired by 'History Has Its Eyes On You' from Hamilton.  
> Same universe as my other Hamilton inspired works.

Liam ran after Shay, following him through New York’s broken alleys. The truce was still fragile but for the sake of the world it was necessary. They couldn’t handle a war along with the Precursor Apocalypse, as the public had labelled it. Though none of this would have happened if they had just _listened_. Still reeling from the shock of it all, Liam wandered when it had all gone wrong. 

_**I was younger than you are now.**_

Memories of his father's death entered Liam’s mind. After going to prison for a crime that his son should have died for, the man had been executed. Liam wasn’t proud of what he had done in response to that. Attacking his employer, staying away from his mother, abandoning his friends. Including Shay, despite – or perhaps because of – the help his young friend had tried to give. 

_**When I was given my first command.** _

Liam’s saving grace had come in the form of Achilles, who had dragged him back from the dark and given him purpose. The man had claimed to see something in him worth saving, and that someday Liam could change the world. With little other options, Liam had gone along with it, and grown to love the life of an Assassin, and respect all their Creed stood for. Together they had built the Colonial Brotherhood, recruiting the others and stopping Templars wherever possible. Liam had served as second-in-command and had been proud to hold that position. 

_**I led my men straight into a massacre.** _

Then while on a mission in New York, he had reunited with the Irishman in front of him. Broken and angry after the death of his father, Shay had been desperate need of healing. Just like Achilles had done with him, Liam tried to help his friend. He still carried some guilt for leaving the man alone, particularly after learning it was Shay keeping Liam’s mother looked after until her death. About a year after their reunion, Liam had inducted Shay into the Brotherhood with the Mentor’s permission, in an attempt to give the same healing to Shay that he himself had received. 

_**I witnessed their death first-hand.** _

But it had backfired. While Shay had liked the values of the Creed, he had trouble with its tactics. He didn’t think using gangs was in any way right, having suffered at the hands of many thugs in his childhood. Liam had kept some of the darker but necessary sides of their work away from Shay, sensing that he was not ready for that. Still too soft, still too immature. And when Shay had finally taken his problem to a dramatic and terrible conclusion, when he had run for that cliff after stealing from the Creed, Liam felt both betrayed and like he had failed his oldest brother. 

_**I made every mistake, and felt the shame rise in me.** _

And in many ways, he had. He had been blind to Shay’s issues with the other members of the Brotherhood, not being fully aware of how deep the issues ran. He had hidden vital things from Shay, lied to him, and sown seeds of distrust. He had viewed Shay’s thoughts and feeling as immature, when looking back they were just opinions of a different kind than his own. While Shay _was_ immature in his tardiness, conversations with the others suggested it was more an act, an attempt to fit into the role they had carved out for him. He had tried to shape Shay into someone he was not, been too rigid in his ways, thinking that what worked for one would automatically work for another. This had cost him dearly. 

_**And even now I lie awake, knowing history has its eyes on me.**_

Which had all lead to Shay joining the Templars. In them, he had seemed to find an opportunity to stop the Assassins, a chance to prevent another Lisbon. But he had ultimately failed, even after killing Kegowaase, and wounding Hope. Now the world burned in the flames of Liam and Achilles mistakes, in a tragedy that would go down in history forever. 

_**Yeah, history has its eyes on me.**_

Haytham Kenway of all people was the one to rise from the ashes and attempt to hold a fracturing world together. Sending Shay and his favoured lieutenant Charles Lee to the Assassins, a truce had been agreed upon while they attempted to stop the world completely falling apart. Achilles had disappeared, forcing Liam to take command. He had agreed to the truce and set himself to fixing his mistakes. Trying to make sure the world survived this. Which meant he was out here, heading to a rogue gang hideout who were stockpiling much needed food and forcing people to pay exponentially high prices. 

_**Let me tell you what I wish I'd known. When I was young and dreamed of glory...** _

Shay called them to a stop on a roof opposite the headquarters. He looked tired but alert. He signalled that he would go around and flush them out. Liam nodded in understanding and lay in wait. _“Was there truly no way I could have prevented this? No way I could have stopped this tragedy, stopped the fall of my greatest friend?”_

The rain held no answers for him. 

_**You have no control. Who lives, who dies who tells your story.**_

The cries and shots from the headquarters alerted Liam that it was time to move. Leaping down, he struck two guards simultaneously with his hidden blades, landing in a crouch. Pulling himself up, he jumped into the friend by the Templar Knight’s side. 

_“ No, I can’t think like that. Its fair to no one. I made my choices, and some were wrong. He made his choices too, and it would be a discredit to us both to dwell on how I could have changed things in the past.”_

_**I know that we can win.** _

They fought in tandem, taking out guards without death wherever possible. Years of fighting side by side don’t vanish easily and Liam’s muscle memory still remembered how to fight with his man, even if his style had changed. More gang members arrived, and the Irishmen took down them all. _“We can’t afford to lose this!”_

_**I know that greatness lies in you.**_

Glancing over at his companion, Liam was surprised that Shay was still not killing anyone. In his experience, Templars were quick to apply lethal force the moment they were threatened. Shay himself, Liam had always thought was immature and reckless enough to be the sort of Assassin to cause many casualties in a fight, whether directly or indirectly it didn’t matter. But this Shay Cormac was cool and controlled, and skilled in a way Liam had never thought he was capable of. 

_“Just how little did I really know you?_

_**But remember from here on in...** _

With one final rush of strength, the pair took down the last of the thugs. Glancing around Liam was relieved that the fight was over, feeling the ache of his side increased by the strain. It had never really recovered from the fall at the Arctic Temple. Breathing a sigh of relief, they set to locating the supplies. They had fought well together in that fight, but Liam knew it wouldn’t last. 

_**History has its eyes on you.**_

Fetching the pigeon, he sent the message back to Lee that the supplies had been located. There were too many for them to transport alone, which isn’t a problem Liam had imagined they would have. A call to the right caught his attention and Liam smiled faintly at the sight of a Hawk circling above a guard’s prone form. Shay would always joke it was his spirit form, given that it was on of the two animal that made up his name. _“A noble son of a Hawk and a Raven, was it?”_

_**History has its eyes on you.** _

With a final cry, the hawk took off, having deemed the guard a worthless prize and not worth the time. Shay exited the building at the same moment, missing the hawk. Liam got up and the two exited the area, back into the shadows. 

_“We are on opposite sides yes. But that doesn’t mean we are enemies forever more. History will record the coming days and evaluate all involved._

_Let my choices be the right ones this time.”_


End file.
